More brain unclogging. Just a little somethin' somethin' to hold all of us over until I finish up my Story Time With Remy LeBeau work.

Words. They were powerful things.

And if anyone truly understood the power of words, it was Remy LeBeau.

If he didn't have words, he wouldn't be nearly as successful as he was. Good looks can only get him so far. And even if those looks got him quite a distance, it still isn't enough to fix every situation. But with his words, Remy LeBeau was deadly. Remy LeBeau was unstoppable.

The first time he understood the power of his words was when his Tante caught him stealing a taste of her brownie mix when her back was turned. He begged and pleaded and looked up at her with his big red eyes and her expression softened before she finally huffed and sent him on his way without even threatening him.

Tante didn't know it, but she had created a monster.

From that moment on, Remy tried to see just what he could talk his way out of. On more than one occasion, he would court danger just to see if he could seduce it until danger let him go without so much as a scratch. And when his mutant powers kicked in and he acquired his empathic charm, the boy was unstoppable.

The awkward puberty years passed and Remy was quite pleased to see that he wasn't half bad looking. And with his strenuous work out and constant evasion of the law (in his opinion, the best cardio workout around), he bulked up a little. One day he looked in the mirror and saw his rakish smile, tousled russet hair, mysterious eyes, and broad shoulders and knew that despite his sorted past, he was quite fortunate now.

Vain, the Remy LeBeau was.

He was good looking and silver tongued. He was certain that he was unstoppable. Aside from his escapades with the fairer sex, it also proved to be advantageous in his thieving exploits. The information he could acquire that helped him on a case just by sounding official and looking innocent made his work that much more thrilling. Not to mention easy.

Words got Remy LeBeau far in life.

Except with Rogue.

Rogue never let him get away with much. Not after he fooled her with his little impromptu trip to Louisiana.

He joined the X-Men. He used persuasive words to convince the bald one that he was truly turning over a new leaf and would be a valuable asset to the team. Even the midget with too much testosterone and the claws seemed to begrudgingly believe him. One-Eye wasn't convinced, but Remy smiled at his red head girlfriend, charmed his way into her good graces so at least she wouldn't let her stick-up-the-ass boyfriend be too much of a problem for him.

Rogue was a different story though.

She rolled her eyes at his pretty words. Mocked him for his accent. Due to the brief period where she absorbed his thoughts, she knew of his empathic charm so it didn't work on her anymore. And even though Remy could tell she thought he was attractive (who wouldn't?) she refused to visibly allow it—or him—affect her.

He tried in vain for a long time to win her over. But eventually, Remy LeBeau realized that he would need a change of tactics with Rogue.

It wasn't an easy change. Because the Cajun had spent so many years of his life faking sincerity. He never really had to connect with a person. He never really had to try. But then Rogue came and not only did he have to make an effort but he wanted to.

He struggled to find the words to convince her truly cared. He showed her with actions and after some time, she seemed to believe it. Those words, though. Those damn words were the problem. He couldn't say it. Especially when it mattered the most.

He loved her. He knew it. She didn't. He wanted to tell her. He couldn't.

He kept that secret for a long time before one day, while lounging on the roof, he looked into her big emerald eyes and damn near had a heart attack before he finally blurted it out. Following this, he needed ten minutes to pull himself out of the miniature panic attack he had before finally looking into Rogue's laughing eyes.

"I love you too, Swamp Rat."

He sighed in relief. Rogue laughed. The world seemed to be right. After almost a year of struggles, Remy LeBeau finally found the true strength of words.

Then, after a slight disagreement, One-Eye mumbled just loud enough for Remy to hear: